Saturday, 11 July 2015

Seven of us rolled out of Forster Green this morning with no fixed plan. After an afternoon of drinking slush puppies (Castlereagh navy of course), I was balancing a sugar high and vodka low but not feeling too bad. Hannibal was coming down with a cold and wary of pushing too hard, but otherwise everyone was on good form.

Nitemare called a route which mixed regular roads with a few rarer ones, winding us down to Ballycreen and then retracing the Fondo route up to Begney Hill. Lanterne and Hannibal took a direct route home, while Bones, Digger, Flashdance, Nitemare and me turned for Drumkeeragh. I have no idea who took the polka dot points as I wasn't even on the radar at that point.... Regrouped we dropped down to Spa where I put down a marker for the green jersey.

Following up the recommendation we got last week we checked out Hollys Coffee in Ballynahinch. They made us very welcome and opened up the back garage which has been kitted out specifically for bikies. Maybe a bit cool for late season, but a great place for this time of year.

Nitemare pegged back a couple of points for the green jersey with an early attack in to Saintfield, but it was still all to play for until I exploded on the final kick to the House of Sport. Freakishly yet another 51/52 mile Saturday, a new coffee stop and a tough climb, just what the doctor ordered.